Racism in football always makes one feel a bit shifty in your seat. You start to wonder to yourself how you can be less racist or worse, whether you have been the victim of racism yourself or if it's only black people who can be victims of racism or is prejudice something different? Is there anything I can do to further stamp out racism, a T-shirts I can wear, car stickers to display, just tell me and I'll do it.
It's difficult to write about racism without feeling like either a racist or victim of racism. If you're not a victim of racism and you write about racism, you'll probably be accused of being a racist by someone. It's not a subject to be joked about or over-analysed for fear some deep rooted prejudice from your tortured youth will emerge and you will be forever ostracised from the game you love so well.
On the various websites I peruse like the Guardian or the BBC, there is no one blogging or writing about this issue probably because they are afraid of saying something which could be misinterpreted and they will be out on their ear so again it is safer just to brush it under the carpet. What can you say anyway? Barnes can't prove any of what he is says and he did get a chance at Celtic (albeit with Kenny Daglaish overseeing him).
Racism doesn't seem to be a problem so much on the playing side of things. The game is so fiercely competitive that the best players play no matter what, unless the manager wants to lose his job or the game. There is the obvious issue of players being abused from the terraces but then football fans abuse everyone from calling for players wives to die of cancer to paedophiles, rapists and so on.
The racism from the terraces is something different to what John Barnes spoke of yesterday at his unveiling as Tranmere Rovers Manager. John Barnes says that the reason he didn't get a job since he was relieved of his duties as Celtic coach was because of a reluctancy within the game to hire black managers because of doubts over their competency.
Paul Davis said something similar a couple of years ago when the best he could do was end up as Gazza's assistant as Kettering despite having coached at Arsenal and having a distinguished career for club and country behind him. Paul Ince found it equally difficult and ended up starting at Macclesfield unlike any numbers of his contemporaries who were given opportunities higher up the ladder.
I think Mick McCarthy was a better choice than Ince for the Wolves job. Mick has a proven record of getting teams promoted and managed in the Premier League and at a World Cup. One could equally point to Terry Butcher or Paul Lambert as managers who have found it difficult to escape the clutches of the lower leagues despite their successes as players.
I suppose the point is that any racism which might be practised in the appointment of football managers is of the passive variety and therefore very difficult to prove but there again when people of the calibre of Ince, Paul Davis, John Barnes and Iffy Onoura complain about it, you'd have to think it's more than just being a bit of a sore loser.
I heard an argument once that chairmen don't mind black players but they don't want black managers because managers are the face of the club and a black manager would turn off sponsors and scare away supporters. In other words, a black manager would be bad for business. I don't know how credible this argument is and I'm sure football clubs and their sponsors would balk at any such suggestion. There again for all their talk, I don't see too many black people on the board of the FA or visibly employed by them.
John Barnes might well be right but he was given the opportunity at Celtic which he didn't take. He was shrewd enough to sign Stilian Petrov and Henrik Larsson's injury was a big blow so maybe he does deserve another chance.
The problem for Barnes & Co. is that the racism they speak of can't really be stamped out. All club chairmen are white which doesn't make them racist but it is clear that off the pitch progression for black players into management or the board room is rare be it down to tradition or maybe there is some ingrained subconscious racism in the English (and other nation's) psyche which can be denied through any number of anti-racism campaigns so long as you're not asked to practice what you preach.
I wouldn't agree with affirmative action in football. It's a notorious difficult game to make it and prejudice exists over any number of characteristics. Sam Allerdyce thinks his image doesn't suit the big clubs, Brian Kerr was never trusted because he didn't play at the highest level but in football you are judged on results. John Barnes has his chance now with Tranmere, just like Paul Ince took his with Macclesfield and MK Dons.
The game is all about over coming challenges and proving people wrong can be the greatest motivation of all.
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